wales |
A ROBUST MARKET D
espite the political surprises and uncertainty that occurred in 2016, the
market has been robust and there have been several prominent transactions in the Welsh property market over the past year. Cardiff has seen the continued development of major City Centre office schemes, such as Central Square and Capital
Quarter: notably the letting of 265,000 sq.ft at Central Square to the
Matthew Jones
Government tax hub building and the speculative development at Capital Quarter No.3 for 75,000 sq.ft and No.4
for 93,482 sq.ft. The continued growth from inward investment operators and national occupiers looking for regional offices in Cardiff has led to take up figures of 575,706 sq.ft up to Q3. From an investment perspective, key deals such Credit Suisse acquiring 1 Central Square for £56 million highlights the demand from international institutions seeking
By Matthew Jones, Associate Director, Fletcher Morgan
good quality office investments within Cardiff.
In addition to the growth of the office
market in Cardiff, the student market remains buoyant with key development sites such as Fitzalan Court with PMG/McLaren Property and Oxford Street with Cross-Lane Group completed for the 2017-2018 academic year. The sale of the former Volvo car dealership on Tyndall Street to JEDs Investments for 771 student beds, highlights the changing nature of the City Centre fringe.
Dumballs Road is soon to change dramatically from an historic industrial location to a major residential development site with over 2,000 new homes. There has also been the emergence of the Private Rented Sector (PRS) with Rightacres obtaining planning on Dumballs Road and Urban Centric in for a further 206 units on the former Browning Morris site. Despite the increase in enquiries, PRS remains short of land values still generated from student development. Further afield, Swansea and Newport are now starting to see an increase in demand for student accommodation: notably a 307-bed scheme on the Kingsway in Swansea we acquired for the Cross-Lane Group and a scheme for circa 700 beds is
by Paul Wong, Director of Project Management – Lee Wakemans
IN MY VIEW W
hat should Wales look like in 2030? Should we be looking to host the Olympic Games? How about being a major tourist
destination given our fantastic coastline, landscape and heritage? China recently stated that it plans to win the football World Cup by 2050. Saudi Arabia has a 2030 vision which is guiding all the change the country’s going through. By having a long term vision businesses can plan and grow. If
the vision keeps changing, or if there is no vision, we stay stuck in day to day problems without a guiding light to show us the way. Bristol Airport has over 7 million people go through its doors, half of whom are from Wales. Dublin Airport has over 30 million people travel through every year, although the Irish population is similar to that of Wales. They have set up the ability to clear immigration in Dublin for the US. This is in response to the slow process once you land in America, so the Irish do it quicker and people route through Dublin to take advantage of it. I went to Cornwall this summer for our family holiday, and was impressed at the amount there was to do as a tourist. We spent over £200 at the Eden Project alone, and enjoyed doing so. When we came back, we decided to be tourists in Wales. We visited somewhere near Neath, which was advertised for cycling and walking. We had a good walk but on return were informed that the café stopped serving food at 3pm (on a Bank Holiday Monday). I was struggling to part with my money. Cardiff has some great tourist venues, but where is the Roald
Dahl centre or the Scott of the Antarctic experience? How do we start to have a Vision for 2030? Perhaps we should maximise what we’ve got and build from there.
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MONTHLY 2017 T
also in the pipeline on Mariners Street. From a retail perspective, the rating revaluation from April this year has helped reduce the rates payable by landlords and tenants on High Streets in Welsh towns, however little else has been done to incentivise occupiers back to the town centres. Friars Walk in Newport was a step in the right direction in 2016, however, it has resulted in an increase in tenants vacating Commercial Street/High Street to take a new unit within that centre. Although, the purchase of Bridgend Shopping Centre for £5 million by Ashfield Land was a positive. The industrial market has shown signs of improvement with an increase in demand for 50,000 sq.ft + units for production and distribution companies looking to locate in Wales. Notable deals include the sale of 123,000 sq.ft in Bridgend to Willis Asset Management and the letting of the 300,000 sq.ft former Tesco distribution centre in Chepstow to CM Downton. However, there still remains the lack of speculative development or good quality space available. St Modwen are going in the right direction at Celtic Business Park but a lack of improvement in rental values is hindering the development pipeline.
SOUTH GATE HOUSE, CARDIFF
wo tenants at the multi-let South Gate House office building in Wood Street, Cardiff have expanded into larger accommodation. TV production company Rondo Media has taken a second suite in South Gate House to expand its TV production services in its existing 9th Floor offices. In addition Phoenix Legal Services has expanded in the building, by relocating from a 1,950 sq.ft suite to the 4,232 sq.ft 5th floor West. Landlord Euranglo Cardiff Ltd was advised in both deals by
Knight Frank.
Mark Sutton, office agency partner at Knight Frank in Cardiff, said: "South Gate House has seen a flurry of activity in recent months and these most recent tenant expansions have built on the success in the building over the last two years where we have transacted almost 18,000 sq.ft in 6 deals.
TAFFS WELL
£500,000 investment in the Moy Road Industrial Estate at Taffs Well, near Cardiff, by Rombourne Group has led to a surge of new occupiers in the past few months. The estate is now almost fully let with almost 80 per cent of workshop offices and self-storage accommodation occupied within the first 12 months of completing the development. Rombourne is a Cardiff-based specialist provider of serviced
A
business accommodation across Cardiff, Newport, Bristol and Swindon. The Group recently completed £100,000 capital investment in the Moy Road Industrial Estate, including investing in a new car park and new cladding for the industrial units fronting Moy Road. Last year Rombourne invested a further £400,000 in the full refurbishment of a 16,000 sq.ft building on site to create a new office and workshop business centre.
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